Beating that Toronto Drum

[Patrick76777]

I've been beating this drum for a while now. I want this Toronto thing to be a moderate success, but I don't want it to be too successful.

In 10 days, we play our first game up there. And from what I hear, they’re still not close to selling it out!

The fact of the matter is, they overpriced this thing!

Now they’re advertising in Buffalo, trying to sell this thing out.

Plus they still haven’t sold out the regular season game. I’m sure they will eventually, but come on!

And check out this article and more importantly, the comments after it.

http://www.thestar.com/Sports/Football/article/470923

They’ve sold ZERO POINT ZERO tickets in Rochester at camp. GOOD!

Go Bills.

[DraftBoy]

Re: Beating that Toronto Drum

If Toronto is a failure doesn't that increase the likelihood that the Bills move though?

[THATHURMANATOR]

Re: Beating that Toronto Drum

Who the hell knows at this point.

[Jan Reimers]

Re: Beating that Toronto Drum

I guess they tested the upper limit on ticket prices, and found that even those supposedly rich, hungry-for-the-NFL Toronto fans aren't willing to pay exhorbitant prices.

And I know Bills' season ticket holders have bought some tickets, some are reserved for VIPS, etc., so this means they can't even sell the fewer than 50,000 seats available.

[Patrick76777]

Re: Beating that Toronto Drum

If Toronto is a failure doesn't that increase the likelihood that the Bills move though?

Not at all! Imagine they sell out every game in 1 hour at an average of $150 a seat. The Bills would be drooling over that cash grab!


But now they see that maybe the grass isn't as green as they once thought. But at the same time, we've sold out just about every game before August!

[Jan Reimers]

Re: Beating that Toronto Drum

If Toronto is a failure doesn't that increase the likelihood that the Bills move though?

I think the Bills' are looking to the Toronto market for a few thousand more season ticket holders and, even more importantly, the sale of some premium seats and luxury boxes to Toronto fat cats and businesses.

I don't think it matters if the Rogers Centre is packed or not.

[OpIv37]

Re: Beating that Toronto Drum

question: How are the sales for the regular season game?

Preseason is always a tough sell.

I honestly don't know how I feel about this. The reduced demand means it's at least a little less likely that Toronto will get our team, but at the same time we do need to make SOME money off of them to keep the Bills in Buffalo.

[DrGraves]

Re: Beating that Toronto Drum

canadians are not that dumb... they dont care about preseason football either.

[trapezeus]

Re: Beating that Toronto Drum

there was an article about the poor rich people and how they are cutting back on expenses during this recession.

I've said this a thousand times, but the NFL is getting dangerously close to pricing themselves out of beinga 32 team league. it's not just buffalo that hangs on. there are literally 10 markets at most where there are a plethora of companies to pay for boxes without question at incredible rates.

The other 22 have some pretty die hard fans paying high rates for their tickets. They are almost out of reach for the average fan and their family. Once the fan base says, "eh, not so interested." you'll see that those companies being the most finicky and leaving the box sales.

With the current economic environment alot of those fortune 500 companies have a lot of other things to spend their free cash on other than luxury boxes.

[Michael82]

Re: Beating that Toronto Drum

I think this is great news. It shows to me that even the land of the Rich, Toronto, Ontario has their limits. Their roads aren't paved with gold like many people said. Rogers is to blame for this. He's an ******* and he severely overpriced this game. It pissed a lot of regulars off and made it so many people in Canada that might have gone decided that he should go **** himself. If they tested this ahead of time, I bet the tickets would have been $50-100 cheaper per game, depending on the seat.

[LtBillsFan66]

Re: Beating that Toronto Drum

Canadians are notorious fair weather fans.

[ddaryl]

Re: Beating that Toronto Drum

there was an article about the poor rich people and how they are cutting back on expenses during this recession.

I've said this a thousand times, but the NFL is getting dangerously close to pricing themselves out of beinga 32 team league. it's not just buffalo that hangs on. there are literally 10 markets at most where there are a plethora of companies to pay for boxes without question at incredible rates.

The other 22 have some pretty die hard fans paying high rates for their tickets. They are almost out of reach for the average fan and their family. Once the fan base says, "eh, not so interested." you'll see that those companies being the most finicky and leaving the box sales.

With the current economic environment alot of those fortune 500 companies have a lot of other things to spend their free cash on other than luxury boxes.

yeah pro sports in this country is about to get a big fat dose of financial reality IMHO

This downturn / recession or whatever you want to call it is going to put a ton of people in the poor house. That will force people to decide what is and what isn't important. Sports is a luxury, and I believe most people are becoming fed up with the finances in pro sports.

Serioulsy who in their sober mind would pay $30K for the rights to be able to purchase season tickets. Dallas fans IMO are not in their right mind.

Tick tock...

[Michael82]

Re: Beating that Toronto Drum

there was an article about the poor rich people and how they are cutting back on expenses during this recession.

I've said this a thousand times, but the NFL is getting dangerously close to pricing themselves out of beinga 32 team league. it's not just buffalo that hangs on. there are literally 10 markets at most where there are a plethora of companies to pay for boxes without question at incredible rates.

The other 22 have some pretty die hard fans paying high rates for their tickets. They are almost out of reach for the average fan and their family. Once the fan base says, "eh, not so interested." you'll see that those companies being the most finicky and leaving the box sales.

With the current economic environment alot of those fortune 500 companies have a lot of other things to spend their free cash on other than luxury boxes.

Great post! I've been thinking the same thing and can't wait to see it happen, but I still think we are a few years away. Look at what the idiotic Cowboys fans are paying for that crap.

[SABuffalo786]

Re: Beating that Toronto Drum

question: How are the sales for the regular season game?

Preseason is always a tough sell.

I honestly don't know how I feel about this. The reduced demand means it's at least a little less likely that Toronto will get our team, but at the same time we do need to make SOME money off of them to keep the Bills in Buffalo.

I think we've found a happy medium. I really don't think Toronto cares that much about the NFL as to want the Bills at any cost but at the same time the regular season games will sell out and result in a nice pay day for us.

[dannyek71]

Re: Beating that Toronto Drum

They didn't sell because most places don't accept currency with a lumberjack and a hockey puck on them.